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“Sorry-”
“You’re sorry?!”
“I think you wanted to be the one to take her down, but I slugged her.”
“I’m more glad that you’re okay. I’m not mad that you walloped her.”
“My arms hurt.”
Wren explained how they and their husband got into such a predicament. They lived in Elira’s Rest on another nearby island with their family. Wren’s ability with their flute wasn’t exactly a secret, but it wasn’t something they bragged about either. Still, Asara must have heard of them at some point.
Before, nobody had ever bothered Wren or made demands of them.
Soldiers busted into Wren’s home one early morning to take the whole family. Even their little sister, Nariel, had been snatched, and they were all currently in the local prison. When Oriel heard that, he told several men to go release them.
Asara wanted Wren to control Oriel and everyone else when the army came so they would drop dead drop dead. Wren could do some things like making people follow or dance, and causing them to instantly croak wasn’t on the list.
But they could lure the whole army into the ocean to drown.
Asara used Wren’s husband, Aiden, as leverage. His leg had been amputated below the knee after an accident as a child, and he used a prosthetic piece now. Asara took that away and threatened to have her men beat him.
If Wren still didn’t comply, Aiden would have been killed in the room upstairs. Asara said the men would know it was her and not harm Aiden if she came later and used a special knock. If anybody else came in or tried to save him, the men would have slit Aiden’s throat.
She also offered Wren many things such as the title of Earl, all of the money they could possibly want, and a huge Castle for their whole family. She said terrible things about Oriel and tried to convince Wren that killing him wasn’t such a bad thing. Besides, they should be loyal to their Queen, and the chance to do such a great service was rare.
“I pretended to be convinced bit by bit,” said Wren. “If I kept refusing, she would have hurt Aiden and my family. I even tried to haggle for a better holding like I was really going to do this, and she agreed. She shouldn’t have trusted me.”
Aiden, sitting on the High Table, shook his head. “Letting them have their flute back was her first mistake.”
“Exactly,” they said. “I just had to wait until you got here. I made you stop, and I left Aspen out because he had the crossbow and was closer.”
“And…I shot at you instead of Asara,” mumbled Aspen. “Sorry.”
“But he took care of her pretty well since I made her get up and come toward him,” said Wren. “I didn’t use my flute too hard on the rest of you because it can leave people rather messed up for a couple of hours, but I needed to get to Aiden, so I made you all move and stay there to buy me a few minutes just in case.”
“That’s a really strange instrument you’ve got,” said Aspen.
“I didn’t think anybody has ever received something like that,” said Oriel. “Or at least not that I know of.”
Wren looked away. “I guess the Goddess trusted me. She knew I wasn’t going to be an outlaw with it.”
“She must have been desperate,” said Roth. “No offense to you Wren, but using you like that was like sticking your hand in a snake den. She should have known there was a chance you’d betray her even with all of the grand stuff she offered.”
“But maybe she was hoping you’d kill me first and ask questions later if I betrayed her,” said Wren. “I was a dangerous option, but I might have also done it for the materialistic stuff. I pretended like the idea of being an Earl was quite tempting. I even asked about finding a higher-up for Nariel to marry when she’s an adult.”
“But Wren’s not like that, and I don’t care to be a lord,” said Aiden. “I like our life in Elira’s Rest.”
“I thought my cousin wouldn’t be like this either,” said Oriel.
Someone had put a lirek collar around her neck, tied her wrists and ankles, and healed her enough so she wouldn’t end up dying right there on the floor. The area was being secured, and as far as Wren knew, she had no last-minute tricks up her sleeve.
They had been her last resort, and it had failed.
Someone found Aiden’s prosthetic upstairs, and he was nearly done with strapping it on when Rhys came closer to the dais.
“Hello, fellow human,” Aiden said as Wren chuckled and boosted himself up onto the High Table to sit. “Well, we’re not human anymore.”
Rhys’s eyes grew wide. “You were human?”
